teargas and riot police on the streets of tunis as the country's fledgling democracy struggles to survive a crisis we know it is not good for us but it is not fun, but why are so many people doing it? fledglingntry's democracy struggles to survive. we know that it is not good for us, but wire so many people doing it? welcome to our viewers on public television in america. america's drone program came -- undere nomination fire at the nomination hearing for john brennan. the man that president obama has tapped to be his next spy chief says that the white house goes through agony to make sure that there are no collateral deaths in these attacks. >> a panel of senators brimming

with questions. barely a few words in, the first interruption but not from politicians. >> i am honored to appear before you today as the president's nominee. >> would you hold please? i will ask the police to please remove this woman. >> four times, protesters interrupted at the hearing. there was a vocal opposition to the program and to john brennan becoming the next director. he was questioned over his past involvement in enhance interrogation techniques. >> i've expressed my personal objections to my colleagues about certain of those situations such as water boarding, nudity, and others. i've expressed my personal objections but i did not try to stop it because it was something that was being done in a

different part of the agency under the authority of others. >> when asked about john strikes, he criticized the protesters. >> i think there is an impression on the part of some american people who believe that we take strikes to punish terrorists for past transgressions. nothing could be further from the true spirit to we only take this as a last resort to save lives. -- nothing could be further from the truth. we only do this as a last resort to save lives. >> it recently, a secret base in saudi arabia was revealed, first yeaused to kill this man. he was also a u.s. citizen and the obama administration agreed to show congress the legal opinion justifies such attacks. the white house argues that from strikes effectively target america's enemies but critics cite heavy civilian casualties and the u.s. relies on them too

much. >> the drone is the only weapon that really frightened insurgents. it is ineffective. we cannot possibly kill these people one at a time and expect to come out on top. >> they are clearly not invincible. iranian tv has shown these pictures that come from a u.s. surveillance drone they captured two years ago. it's interesting timing. >> with me here in the studio is a former adviser to president obama's special up is that it to afghanistan and pakistan. you understand this area of the world very closely. how important is this to the national security? >> it has killed a number of al

qaeda leaders but it has not decimated the organization completely. it has pushed them to move into other areas of the middle east. also, at a very high political cost. it does cause an enormous amount of anger in pakistan which has helped to spread extremism. the pakistan is feel that this has encouraged attacks on civilians. >> the drone program has been stepped up a lot by the obama administration. now, we're starting to see questions in the u.s.. >> the problem is who are they targeting? the high-value targets, we know who they are. there are many more attacks that killed lower-level targets. people that might be mildly associated with terrorists. the larger issue is that it is causing a political problem.

people in pakistan think whether these targets are legitimate or not, the u.s. is violating their airspace and national sovereignty. that my be a greater cost. >> those are not the arguments i was hearing listing to the hearing john brennan. but the senators were concerned about was not the political implications, they were concerned about the without the of targeted american citizens and that is pretty much that was all they were concerned about. >> that is a very narrow concern largely because this is in line with what the bush administration implemented. the republicans are hard pressed to criticize the drone program. the democrats do not want to criticize it. the only focus on whether we should be killing americans. the problem is much bigger than this legality of killing americans abroad. this is the whole way it has

unfolded, the way in which it tarnishes america's image. >> we will see whether john brennan suffers because of these hearings. thank you very much. there has been a second day of violent protests in the capital of tunisia following the assassination of an opposition protester. clashes between protesters and police threaten democracy as the politicians are disagreeing on how to deal with this crisis. we have been out on the streets of the capital. >> the situation across tunisia is incredibly tense. the assassination has shaken the country to its very core. ? we have not seen scenes like this for two years. there are right police clashing on this main street.

the young men are protesting about the government. the government allied to the muslim brotherhood, accused of a road and the people the freedoms that people had one in the revolution. -- accused of eroding the freedoms that the people won in the revolution. there is a highly charged funeral tomorrow. many people across the country are anticipating more trouble. >> a very tense time they're in tunisia. it has been described as the blackest day in australian sport. crushing revelations of mass doping have ripped across the image. doctors, coaches, scientists were all involved, working alongside in an organized crime syndicate with the widespread use of banned drugs.

courts in a country that loves sport and hates -- >> in a country that loves sports and hates cheats, many are calling this the blackest day. it is alleged that the use of performance-enhancing drugs is being facilitated by doctors, scientists, coaches, organized crime. some are using substances not yet approved for shipment news. in some cases, entire teams have been doped. >> the findings are shocking. the work that the commission has done has found the use of prohibited substances including peptides, hormones, and illicit drugs is widespread among professional athletes. >> multiple criminal offenses

have been committed and athletes who have used the substances have been urged to come forward. >> standing here today with some of the ceo's of major sport is a statement to those who seek to ruin sport. if you want to cheat, we will catch you. if you want to fix a match, we will catch you. >> a country that has been in the forefront of the anti doping campaign, the accusations have been shocking. >> this is the blackest day in australian sport. >> because criminal investigations are underway, the investigators have not revealed teams are involved. fans are left asking which of their heroes they can trust. >> it is not worries yet over ban substancened as they are

thinking about in moscow, it is the countdown clock of the winter olympics. the firing of one of the top officials has marred the celebration. russia prepares to host next year's games, fears about the size of the budget and the readiness of the venue have climbed this out of the man in charge of ski jumping. -- have claimed the scalp of the man in charge of ski jumping. >> the official launch of the clock counting down the 365 days left until the winter olympics. vladimir putin fired one of the most senior officials in charge of the games after complaining yesterday about delays in the construction of the ski jump the very personal interest in the games is all about building an image of russia as a modern nation that can once more

compete on the international stage with the world's most powerful country. the winter olympics has been a massively important prestige project, but for many people it has just meant living in a building for five years. on this street overlooking the olympic park, we found this woman. her old house fell apart when the whole hillside started to slip. notice how the kitchen cabinets do not line up with the door frame. she claims that an illegal construction dump caused a landslide. >> may be if this had not happened, i might have enjoyed the olympics but now come on this is hell for -- but now, it is held for me. even if it is

prestigious, for us, is a calamity. firing, mostday's of the preparations appear to be on track. these of the most expensive olympics ever. more expensive even than the beijing summer olympics. >> i did not think that anything could be more expensive than the beijing games. we are all wondering what sport is that the president will compete in. boeing, its future is to plane at the dreamliner has been grounded. today, a safety regulators are talking about how they might let it fly again. >> the 787 is preparing for takeoff to make the flight from texas to washington state. this is the image that a boeing and its customers want to see,

the dreamliner back in the air. it was a one-off and around the world, hundreds of 787's are still grounded. this is the reason why. this caught on fire. another overheated. the u.s. air safety officials have discovered a single battery cell that caused a fire in boston last month. >> based upon findings from the examination and identifying thermal and mechanical damage, we believe that the evidence points to a single cell as the initiating event. >> they believe that the approval should be rethought. >> a short circuit in a single cell can propagate to adjacent cells and results in smoke and fire.

the assumption used to certify the battery must be reconsidered. >> pictures like this to not exactly inspire confidence. passengers were forced down an emergency chute over fears of a fire while investigators know that it will be weeks before they know the cause. the chief executive sought to reassure investors that the company was doing everything in his power to fix its battery problems. the share price seems to be at least holding up. a look at the trading post and you can see at midday trading, shares were up around half of 1%. the technically advanced plane is still in high demand. it is made from plastic, so it uses less fuel. every day it is grounded, the cost to boeing goes up. >> you are watching "bbc world

news america," still to come -- the u.s. education system is slipping down the global rankings. we talked to one woman with radical ideas for an overhaul. life like robotic patients are used by doctors and nurses in the uk who want to practice their clinical skills. they suffer from a range of problems like asthma and severe infections. >> john is sick. he has been in a car crash and he is struggling to breathe. these doctors are trying to figure out what to do. if they cannot, no one dies. these robots are different. they are controlled to react to treatment second by second. "although we are taught in books what to do in certain situations, is very different when you have equipment, and you

have people talking to you. run through.way to >> there are other members of the family. he can heartbeat -- he can have a heartbeat and describe the symptoms. it is cutting edge technology. it's not the only new technology here. the robots are on patrol. they're setting up and delivering the tea and coffee. they also are sorting the mail and they have revolutionized the policy. >> one of the first things we are achieving this that this has been set up. this can be done much more safely by the robot id.

>> john salon has collapsed to the doctors have saved his life. -- john's lung has collapsed. >> america cannot regain our global position until we fix our education. as the company -- as the country struggles to compete, the education is falling behind international standards. there is a book discussing the challenge, "radical." we have heard all the statistics of the american education system is failing compared to other countries. how bad is it?

>> the u.s. is 14th, 17th, and 25th in reading, science, and math. we are falling further and further behind. what is interesting is that a lot of people say, well, we have not gotten worse over time. they are pulling that statistic from the fact that if you look at the achievement level in the 1970's and 60's, it is on par with how our 17-year olds are performing today. the problem is that there are other countries leapfrogging ahead of us. >> if you look at the political situation, education barely features. it was hardly there in the political campaign. >> is a huge problem. in the 2012 presidential campaign, there was very little about education. the focus right now in america is on jobs and the economy.

what i think the politicians are failing to realize is if we want to fix our economy and the long run, we have to focus on public education. i talked about the fact that i saw one summer the prime minister of singapore give a speech. but with so interesting is that he said we want to become an economic powerhouse in the world. the first that they took was to focus on creating great education system. they saw the link between education and the economy. america, we see education more as a social issue. it is not something we are investing in to fix the economy. it is something that gets cut when the budget times are tough. >> is a solution really money? america spends more per child on its education and other countries. >> is not an issue of how much wheat we are spending -- how much we are spending. over the last 20, 30 years we

have tripled the amount of money we're spending per child on public education, and yet the results have remained stagnant. part of the problem is that we in the u.s. i don't think are using our money wisely or effectively. >> then you start getting into extreme political territory with people having very different views on how that money should be spent. >> right. this is one of the things that we push. transparency with budgets. so that everyone can see where our schools, districts, state's spending education dollars and what kind of return on investment are those dollars getting. if we were able to look at the data from that perspective, then we would have obvious choices to make. if we are putting a lot of money into master's degrees for teachers would have been proven to make in not -- proven to not make a big difference of performance. let's take a dollars and pay the

teachers more money. >> thank you for coming in. >> absolutely. >> what is your typical lunch during the workweek? the yugo would call the -- do you go with colleagues? a survey says that more men than women eat al desko. it has to do with the culture that it has become the norm. >> today, many of us will be doing this, munching and lunching wells still chained to our desks. in a survey carried out of almost 600 office workers, 54% said they regularly worked through the lunch hour. 53% believe that there is a widespread culture of colleagues doing the same. perhaps of most concern, 20% say

they felt under pressure not to take a break. what is the problem? i am grabbing a quick bite to eat in the fresh air. i have opted for a sandwich and surprisingly, she is checking into a solid. >> it is important to get away from the workplace and not check e-mail. that leads to what we call mindless eating. you are not concentrating on what you are consuming. that can lead to weight gain. the second thing is that it is important to get out into the fresh air and to be exposed to sunlight. that is how our bodies do this. >> apart from the personal health effects, we wonder what is on and in our desks and keyboards. is it a good idea to eat lunch at your desk? >> certainly not. and the bacteria can fall onto your keyboard. if you are leaving a mass, then

that is not good. your keyboard might be quite warm. >> here at the society headquarters, colleagues become competitors. they spend their lunch or trying to clinch the virtual grand slam. others swim every day. >> i think that i have a job for a to sit down quite a lot of the day. it is nice to get up and go do something and to make the good use of the time. i feel if i have done something useful with my hour, i really active. >> and, some go for a walk. >> it is a bit of fun just to get out and get some fresh air. we had the snow a few weeks ago. >> the boss says that it is good for staff and good for business. >> we have seen since we have been doing this work, a

significant drop in sick absences, a significant drop in turnover, and customer satisfaction levels. >> it might not suit every business but they find that the best approach is to work, rest, and play. >> ok. soup i had at my desk at lunchtime. thank you for watching bbc news. thank you for watching. and in tomorrow. -- tune in tomorrow. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu,

newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key, strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> brown: john brennan, president obama's choice to head the c.i.a. faced a volley of questions from senators today about counter-terrorism policies, including waterboarding and drone strikes. good evening, i'm jeffrey brown. >> suarez: and i'm ray suarez. on the "newshour" tonight, we excerpt today's testimony, which

was interrupted from the start by protesters from the anti-war group, code pink. >> brown: then, we get the latest on the massive manhunt for a former los angeles police office wanted for murder. >> suarez: we turn to iran as the u.s. tightens sanctions but tehran shows no signs of halting its nuclear program or engaging in talks. >> brown: from our american graduate series, we have the story of a chicago non-profit that aims to change the lives of would-be dropouts. >> what's interesting about one goal is that it pinpoints and targets low-income, underperforming students in non- selective chicago public schools, students who are least likely to graduate from high school, let alone college. >> suarez: we look at newly released documents showing leaders in the catholic church in los angeles shielded pedophile priests and failed to report allegations of child abuse. >> brown: and gwen ifill talks with biographer jeanne theo- haris, who offers a complex portrait of the woman best known for refusing to give up her seat on an alabama bus in 1955. >> she is celebrated for one act